I read it because George Will compared it to Atlas Shrugged. I understand the similarities (and there are many, some not particulary laudible), but State of Fear is not nearly as ambitious of a project as was Ayn Rand's magnum opus. I suspect that it'll rise fast, then die quickly, in part because he's probably right on his primary argument: that the current environmental "crises" exist primarily because humans feel a need to fear something, and not because any crises actually exist (in fact, he cites references to studies showing that the beginning for the term "crisis" showing up hyper-frequently in the media coincided at almost exactly the time that communism fell - with nothing left to fear from "The Cold War", humans easily fell prey to specious arguments about an impending environmental catastrophe). When humans find something else to fear (and perhaps Islamic fundamentalist driven terrorism will do), the environmental hyper-fear will fade away.

But that's not the point of my writing tonight. Instead, I was just struck by the tremendously different tone of the two writers of the above linked articles, then further by the aftershock of realizing that it fits a pattern which began at just about the time George W. Bush was elected president in 2000.

Posted by Jeff at January 2, 2005 02:29 AM

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It is heartening to see a strong stance against a virulent movement like the greens.

When communism fell into disrepute its adherents shifted into the green movement, confident they could do as much damage to society as they ever did as communists under this new cover.

These misfits are casting around for their next vehicle now. The green movement has been exposed as a criminal movement for a long time now, to anyone who carefully watched the news.

We owe Michael Crichton a debt of gratitude for taking the first effective action in flushing them out. There is no doubt it will be effective, as it will give heart to the people waiting in the wings to attack this vicious cancer in our community.

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